Ruby Under a Microscope
Ruby Under a Microscope by Pat Shaughnessyby Pat Shaughnessy
Shares rank 38 of 115 programming books by recommenders
Recommended for a deep, internal understanding of how Ruby works, with readers saying it helped their grasp of the language.
Recommended for a deep, internal understanding of how Ruby works, with readers saying it helped their grasp of the language.
5 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 5
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 3 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 5 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 3 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Deep understanding of Ruby internals
“It’s an essential read for anyone who wants to understand how Ruby works internally”
Comment from 17 Nov 2025 in “Compiling Ruby to machine language” “It was quite instrumental for my deeper understanding of the language.”
Comment from 31 Jan 2026 in “CPython Internals Explained”
Other programming books people recommend
The four most recommended other programming books, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crafting Interpretersby Robert Nystrom | 60 | 4 | 94% | 10 | — | Approved |
| Clean Codeby Robert C. Martin | 31 | 87 | 26% | 9 | — | — |
| The Pragmatic Programmerby Hunt and Thomas | 28 | 1 | 97% | 7 | — | Approved |
| How to Design Programsby Felleisen, Findler, Flatt and Krishnamurthi | 18 | 2 | 90% | 7 | — | Approved |
| Ruby Under a Microscopeby Pat ShaughnessyThis page | 5 | 0 | 100% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
All 6 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“the Ruby book and the one posted here have”
“It was quite instrumental for my deeper understanding of the language.”
“this article really makes me want to get a copy of the upcoming version”
“It’s an essential read for anyone who wants to understand how Ruby works internally”
“I loved Ruby Under a Microscope when I first read it, and using that knowledge was able to have fun with some CTFs years ago.”
“his first Ruby under a Microscope book but also his blog posts are amazing”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.